Self-Contained Slot and Slot Duration Configuration in NR Systems

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, and methods to dynamically indicate preference for self-contained slots and slot duration by a user equipment device (UE) in communication with a base station (e.g., a gNB) using a 5G NR radio access technology. A UE may determine to send an indication to a gNB indicating a preference for self-contained slots and slot duration for downlink and/or uplink communications utilizing one or more of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and/or acknowledgement messaging (ACK/NACK) for downlink communications, and utilizing one or more of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), the PDCCH, and/or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for uplink communications. The configuration of self-contained slots and slot duration for uplink and/or downlink may be based on one or more of average packet size, average packet rate, traffic type and UE processing capabilities.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/650,989, titles “Self-Contained Slot and Slot DurationConfiguration in NR Systems” and filed on Mar. 30, 2018, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety, as though fully andcompletely set forth herein.

FIELD

The present application relates to wireless devices, and moreparticularly to apparatus, systems, and methods for a wireless device todynamically configure self-contained slots and slot duration in 5G NewRadio (NR) systems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email,text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system(GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications thatutilize these functionalities.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) has become the technology of choice for themajority of wireless network operators worldwide, providing mobilebroadband data and high-speed Internet access to their subscriber base.LTE defines a number of downlink (DL) physical channels, categorized astransport or control channels, to carry information blocks received frommedia access control (MAC) and higher layers. LTE also defines a numberof physical layer channels for the uplink (UL).

A proposed next telecommunications standard moving beyond the currentInternational Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced)Standards is called 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generationwireless systems, or 5G for short (otherwise known as 5G-NR for 5G NewRadio, also simply referred to as NR). 5G-NR proposes a higher capacityfor a higher density of mobile broadband users, also supportingdevice-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, aswell as lower latency and lower battery consumption, than current LTEstandards. Further, the 5G-NR standard may allow increased flexibilityin time resource allocation for uplink and/or downlink messagescheduling. According, to take advantage of the increased flexibility,improvements in the field may be desirable.

SUMMARY

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods to dynamicallyindicate preference for self-contained slots and slot duration by a userequipment device (UE) in communication with a base station (e.g., a gNB)using a 5G NR radio access technology.

In some embodiments, a UE may determine to send an indication to a gNBindicating a preference for self-contained slots and slot duration fordownlink communications utilizing one or more of the physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH),and/or acknowledgement messaging (ACK/NACK).

In some embodiments, a UE may determine to send an indication to a gNBconfiguring self-contained slots and slot duration for uplinkcommunications utilizing one or more of the physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH), the PDCCH, and/or the physical uplink shared channel(PUSCH).

In some embodiments, a UE may determine to send a single indication to agNB simultaneously configuring self-contained slots and slot durationfor both uplink and downlink communications.

In some embodiments, the configuration of self-contained slots and slotduration for uplink and/or downlink may be based on one or more ofaverage packet size, average packet rate, traffic type and UE processingcapabilities.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portablemedia players, and any of various other computing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of various embodiments isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a base station (BS) in communication with a userequipment (UE) device according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS according to someembodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for a UE toconfigure self-contained slots and slot duration in downlinkcommunications, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for a UE toconfigure self-contained slots and slot duration in uplinkcommunications, according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein may be susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Terms

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™ PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such asa user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements mayinclude, for example: processors and associated memory and circuitry,portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum)in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. Forexample, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however,that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be applicationdependent. For example, in some embodiments, “approximately” may meanwithin 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various otherembodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and soforth, as desired or as required by the particular application.

Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks,processes, or programs are performed in an at least partiallyoverlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using“strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at leastpartially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using“weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleavedmanner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

Various components may be described as “configured to” perform a task ortasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation generallymeaning “having structure that” performs the task or tasks duringoperation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the taskeven when the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., aset of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect amodule to another module, even when the two modules are not connected).In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad recitation of structuregenerally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasksduring operation. As such, the component can be configured to performthe task even when the component is not currently on. In general, thecircuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” mayinclude hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

FIGS. 1 and 2—Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 ismerely one example of a possible system, and that features of thisdisclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a basestation 102A which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the userdevices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” or “userequipment device” (UE). Thus, the user devices 106 are referred to asUEs or UE devices.

The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) orcell site (a “cellular base station”), and may include hardware thatenables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102A and the UEs 106 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wirelesscommunication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM,UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000(e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately bereferred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station 102Ais implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referredto as ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’.

As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate witha network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, thecellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with varioustelecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or data services.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations102B . . . 102N) operating according to the same or a different cellularcommunication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, whichmay provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs106A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or morecellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A-Nas illustrated in FIG. 1, each UE 106 may also be capable of receivingsignals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or moreother cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or anyother base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells”.Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication betweenuser devices and/or between user devices and the network 100. Such cellsmay include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cellswhich provide any of various other granularities of service area size.For example, base stations 102A-B illustrated in FIG. 1 might be macrocells, while base station 102N might be a micro cell. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In someembodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core(EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cellmay include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Inaddition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connectedto one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi)and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellularcommunication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example,WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE 106 may alsoor alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more globalnavigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or moremobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H),and/or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Othercombinations of wireless communication standards (including more thantwo wireless communication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 2 illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106Athrough 106N) in communication with a base station 102, according tosome embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device with cellular communicationcapability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or atablet, or virtually any type of wireless device.

The UE 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute programinstructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the methodembodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions.Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmablehardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that isconfigured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein, orany portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In someembodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, forexample, CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD) or LTE using a singleshared radio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The sharedradio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, aradio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RFsignal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers,oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g.,for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly,the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains usingthe aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one ormore parts of a receive and/or transmit chain between multiple wirelesscommunication technologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/orreceive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radiocomponents) for each wireless communication protocol with which it isconfigured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 mayinclude one or more radios which are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using eitherof LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1×RTT or LTE or GSM), and separate radios forcommunicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurationsare also possible.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of a UE

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of acommunication device 106, according to some embodiments. It is notedthat the block diagram of the communication device of FIG. 3 is only oneexample of a possible communication device. According to embodiments,communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobiledevice or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, adesktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., alaptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or acombination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communicationdevice 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to performcore functions. For example, this set of components may be implementedas a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for variouspurposes. Alternatively, this set of components 300 may be implementedas separate components or groups of components for the various purposes.The set of components 300 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communicationdevice 106.

For example, the communication device 106 may include various types ofmemory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), an input/output interface suchas connector I/F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock;charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard;output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 360, which may beintegrated with or external to the communication device 106, andcellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc.,and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g.,Bluetooth™ and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, communicationdevice 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), suchas a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 and 336 as shown. The short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may also couple (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337and 338 as shown. Alternatively, the short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directlyor indirectly) to the antennas 335 and 336 in addition to, or insteadof, coupling (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to theantennas 337 and 338. The short to medium range wireless communicationcircuitry 329 and/or cellular communication circuitry 330 may includemultiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receivingand/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in amultiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and/orcoupled to, e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly. dedicatedprocessors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chainfor LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a singletransmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specificRATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g.,LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and atransmit chain shared with an additional radio, e.g., a second radiothat may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be incommunication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmitchain.

The communication device 106 may also include and/or be configured foruse with one or more user interface elements. The user interfaceelements may include any of various elements, such as display 360 (whichmay be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discretekeyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), amouse, a microphone and/or speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebuttons, and/or any of various other elements capable of providinginformation to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input.

The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards345 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such asone or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 345.

As shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302, which may executeprogram instructions for the communication device 106 and displaycircuitry 304, which may perform graphics processing and provide displaysignals to the display 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NANDflash memory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as thedisplay circuitry 304, short range wireless communication circuitry 229,cellular communication circuitry 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and pagetable translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may beincluded as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As noted above, the communication device 106 may be configured tocommunicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. Thecommunication device 106 may be configured to perform a method includingperforming one or more of periodic beam quality measurements and/orevent based beam quality measurements, determining, based at least inpart on one or more of the periodic beam quality measurements and/or theevent based beam quality measurements, a recommended beam qualitymeasurement configuration, and transmitting, to a base station servingthe UE, the recommended beam quality measurement configuration. Inaddition, the UE may perform receiving, from the base station,instructions regarding the beam quality measurement configuration. Theinstructions may include instructions to activate, deactivate, and/ormodify at least one beam quality measurement configuration. In addition,the instructions may be based, at least in part, on the recommend beamquality measurement configuration.

As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardwareand software components for implementing the above features forrecommending a beam quality measurement configuration. The processor 302of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part orall of the features described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition),processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) theprocessor 302 of the communication device 106, in conjunction with oneor more of the other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340,345, 350, 360 may be configured to implement part or all of the featuresdescribed herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processor 302 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor 302. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 302.

Further, as described herein, cellular communication circuitry 330 andshort range wireless communication circuitry 329 may each include one ormore processing elements. In other words, one or more processingelements may be included in cellular communication circuitry 330 and,similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in shortrange wireless communication circuitry 329. Thus, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that areconfigured to perform the functions of cellular communication circuitry330. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g.,first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform thefunctions of cellular communication circuitry 230. Similarly, the shortrange wireless communication circuitry 329 may include one or more ICsthat are configured to perform the functions of short range wirelesscommunication circuitry 32. In addition, each integrated circuit mayinclude circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.)configured to perform the functions of short range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329.

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In suchembodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolvedpacket core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. Inaddition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and mayinclude one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition,a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one ormore TRPs within one or more gNB s.

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured tooperate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured tocommunicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430. The antenna 434communicates with the radio 430 via communication chain 432.Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain orboth. The radio 430 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR,LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTEand UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing or supportingimplementation of features described herein. The processor 404 of thebase station 102 may be configured to implement or supportimplementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 404 may be comprised ofone or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processingelements may be included in processor(s) 404. Thus, processor(s) 404 mayinclude one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 404. In addition, each integratedcircuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry,etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 404.

Further, as described herein, radio 430 may be comprised of one or moreprocessing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements maybe included in radio 430. Thus, radio 430 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof radio 430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry(e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to performthe functions of radio 430.

Resource Allocation in Time Domain

In wireless downlink or uplink communications, a control messagescheduling an upcoming payload transmission may be transmitted in thephysical download control channel (PDCCH) during a first period of time,referred to herein as a “slot”, and the scheduled payload transmissionmay be transmitted in the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)during a subsequent period of time (i.e., in a subsequent second slot).For downlink communication, the UE may furthermore transmit anacknowledgment message (ACK/NACK) to the base station indicating whetherthe payload transmission was successfully received in a (third)subsequent slot. In 5G NR, it is anticipated that scheduling of uplinkand downlink messages may be dynamic, such that the relative timing andslot allocation of message scheduling and message transmission may varyover time. In some embodiments, a self-contained slot may be constructedwhereby one or more of the scheduling control message in the PDCCH, themessage payload in the PDSCH, and the acknowledgment message may all betransmitted within a single slot. Additionally, the base station may beable to dynamically adjust the duration of the slot. Embodiments hereindescribe devices and methods to dynamically configure self-containedslots and slot duration in uplink and downlink 5G NR communications.

Various parameters and equations may be utilized to determine timing ofmessage transmission. As one specific example, the relative start of aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) message may be dynamicallysignaled in a scheduling DCI message through the value of a K₀parameter. Furthermore, the duration of the PDSCH may be dynamicallysignaled through the value of a L parameter. In some embodiments, when aUE is scheduled to receive PDSCH by a DCI, the time domain PDSCHresources field of the DCI may provide a row index of a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) configured table [pdsch-symbolAllocation], where theindexed row may define the slot offset K₀, the start and lengthindicator SLIV, and the PDSCH mapping type to be assumed in the PDSCHreception. The slot allocated for the PDSCH may be determined by K₀ ofthe indexed row n+K₀, where n is the slot with the scheduling DCI, andK₀ is based on the numerology of PDSCH. The starting symbol S relativeto the start of the slot, and the number of consecutive symbols Lcounting from the symbol S allocated for the PDSCH may be determinedfrom the start and length indicator SLIV of the indexed row accordingthe following equation:

if (L−1)≤7, then SLIV=14 (L−1)+S, else

SLIV=14*(14−L+1)+(14−1−S), where 0<L≤14−S.

In some embodiments, when the UE is configured with a downlinkaggregation factor (aggregation-factor-DL) greater than 1, the samesymbol allocation may be applied across the aggregation-factor-DLconsecutive slots not defined as uplink (UL) by the slot formatindication.

The parameters and equations above are intended to illustrate oneparticular way of determining start time and duration of the PDSCH, asother parameters and/or equations may also be used to determine PDSCHconfiguration. More generally, it may be appreciated that variousparameters may be used by a base station to determine the start time ofboth PDSCH communications relative to the PDCCH, and the start time ofacknowledgment messaging relative to the PDSCH, as well as the durationof time allocated to a slot for the PDSCH (and potentially other)communications.

Similarly, it is anticipated that in NR, the relative start of PUSCH andits scheduling downlink control information (DCI) may be dynamicallysignaled via a K₂ parameter, and the duration of the PUSCH may besignaled via L. When the UE is scheduled to transmit PUSCH by a DCI, thetime-domain PUSCH resources field of the DCI may provide a row index ofan RRC configured table [pusch-symbolAllocation], where the indexed rowdefines the slot offset K₂, the start and length indicator SLIV, and thePUSCH mapping type to be applied in the PUSCH reception. As oneparticular example, the slot where the UE transmits the PUSCH may bedetermined by K₂ of the indexed row as

${\left( {n \cdot \frac{2^{\mu \; {PUSCH}}}{2^{\mu \; {PDCCH}}}} \right) + K_{2}},$

where n is the slot with the scheduling DCI, K is based on thenumerology of PUSCH, and the starting symbol S relative to the start ofthe slot, and the number of consecutive symbols L counting from thesymbol S allocated for the PUSCH may be determined from the start andlength indicator SLIV of the indexed row. For example, these parametersmay be determined by the following equation, among other possibilities.

if (L−1)≤7, then SLIV=14 (L−1)+S, else

SLIV=14*(14−L+1)+(14−1−S), where 0<L≤14−S.

The parameters and equations above are intended to illustrate oneparticular way of determining start time and duration of the PUSCH, asother parameters and/or equations may also be used to determine PUSCHconfiguration. More generally, it may be appreciated that variousparameters may be used by a base station to determine the start time ofPUSCH communications (which contain the uplink data payload) relative tothe PUCCH (which contains scheduling for the uplink data payload), aswell as the duration of time allocated to a slot for the PUSCH (andpotentially other) communications.

Additionally, parameters may be dynamically adjusted based on UE PDSCHprocessing time. For example, it is anticipated that in NR, theparameters K1 and N1 may be used to specify the start time fortransmission of ACK/NACK messaging subsequent to the end of a payloadtransmission via PDSCH. The relative start time of ACK/NACK messagingmay additionally be implicitly impacted by the configuration ofparameters μ_(DL) and μ_(UL), which are related to demodulationreference signal (DM-RS) configurations. The processing time required bya particular UE for a particular average packet size may be used todetermine how soon after reception of a packet via the PDSCH a UE may beable to send ACK/NACK messaging.

For example, if the first symbol to carry the HARQ-ACK informationstarts no earlier than at symbol K₁, the UE may provide a valid HARQ-ACKmessage, where K₁ may be defined as the next uplink symbol with itsC_(P) starting after ((N₁+d₁)(2048+144)*C_(SCS)+N_(TA))*T_(C) after thelast symbol of the PDSCH carrying the TB being acknowledged. Theparameter C_(SCS) may be defined such that, if μ_(UL)<μ_(DL), thenC_(SCS)=κ*2^(−μUL), and if μ_(UL)>μ_(DL), then C_(SCS)=κ*2^(−μDL).Furthermore, the parameter d₁ may be set equal to zero if the HARQ-ACKis transmitted on PUCCH, and d₁ may be set equal to 1 if the HARQ-ACK istransmitted on PUSCH. Otherwise, the UE may not provide a valid HARQ-ACKcorresponding to the scheduled PDSCH.

N₁ may be defined as illustrated below in Tables 1 and 2 depending onprocessing capabilities of the UE, where N₁ and K₁ may be based onμ_(DL) of Table 1 that corresponding to the minimum of μ_(PDSCH) andμ_(PUSCH) when the HARQ-ACK is to be transmitted on PUSCH. Table 1illustrates an example of processing time for a UE with a firstprocessing capability, while Table 2 illustrates processing time for aUE with a second processing capability.

TABLE 1 PDSCH Processing Time for PDSCH Processing Capability 1 PDSCHdecoding time N₁ (symbols) No additional PDSCH Additional PDSCH μ_(DL)DM-RS configured DM-RS configured 0 8 13 1 10 13 2 17 20 3 20 24

TABLE 1 PDSCH Processing Time for PDSCH Processing Capability 2 PDSCHdecoding time N₁ (symbols) No additional PDSCH Additional PDSCH μ_(DL)DM-RS configured DM-RS configured 0 [2.5-4] [12] 1 [2.5-6] [12]

While the above examples, equations, and tables describe a particularmethodology for determining a PDSCH slot duration from UE processingcapabilities, it may be appreciated that, more generally, a UE maydetermine the amount of processing time required for various types ofuplink and/or downlink communications, and may determine an appropriateslot duration for PDSCH and/or PUSCH depending on the particular latencyassociated with a currently active communication. In general, it may beadvantageous for a UE to reduce the slot duration for PDSCH and/or PUSCHcommunications as much as possible while still allowing enough time forprocessing of the downlink and/or uplink message, respectively.

In order to conserve power expenditure by a UE, it may be advantageousto reduce the UE active duration while maintaining the same UL and DLdata rate, in which case the UE may be able to enter a deeper sleepstate with less power consumption. For example, because the amount oftime required for a UE to enter into a deeper sleep state may increasewhen the power consumption associated with the sleep state increases,the UE may be able to enter a deeper sleep if there is a longerinter-grant time. Consolidating two or more of the PDCCH (or PUCCH),PDSCH (or PUSCH), and the ACK/NACK messaging into a single slot mayreduce the number of times that the UE is required to wake up from asleep or lower power state, hence increasing the power savingsassociated with entering a sleep or low power state.

In some embodiments, the UE active duration may be controlled by a basestation such as the gNB. The gNB may consider many factors indetermining the UE active duration, such as traffic type, CDRXconfigurations, decoding delay at UE and gNB, and ACK/NACK monitoring,among other possibilities. When the UE is transmitting and/or receivingsmall and/or sporadic packets, the decoding delay may be small enough sothat the UE may be able to reduce the slot duration by sending anassociated ACK/NACK message during the same slot as the data payload.Self-contained slots are anticipated to be defined in NR forUltra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) applications.Self-contained slots may be utilized to save power, with slot durationadjusted depending on characteristics of the transmission and processingcapabilities of the UE.

FIG. 5—Self-Contained Slots and Slot Duration for Downlink (DL)

FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for configuringself-contained slots and slot duration by a UE for downlinkcommunications. The methods described in reference to FIG. 5 may beimplemented by a UE 106 or a processor including circuitry comprisedwithin a UE, such as those illustrated in FIG. 3, among otherpossibilities. In various embodiments, some of the elements of thescheme shown may be performed concurrently, in a different order thanshown, or may be omitted. Additional and/or alternative elements mayalso be performed as desired. As illustrated, the method of FIG. 5 mayoperate as follows.

At 502, the UE may establish a connection with a base station. In someembodiments, the base station may be a gNB, and the connection may be aradio resource control (RRC) connection using a 5G NR radio accesstechnology. Other types of base stations and/or connections are alsopossible.

At 504, the UE may transmit an indication to the base station specifyinga preference to configure self-contained slots and/or slot duration fordownlink communications using the established connection. In variousembodiments, the indication may specify a preference by the UE toreceive downlink packets through the PDSCH in the same slot ascorresponding control messages are received in the PDCCH, and/or theindication may specify a preference to transmit acknowledgment messagesin the same slot as the downlink packets received through the PDSCH. Theindication may further specify a preferred duration of the slotassociated with the PDSCH.

The indication may be transmitted based at least in part on adetermination by the UE that the UE's average DL packet size is lessthan a first predetermined number (N_(d)) of bytes, and/or based on adetermination that the average arrival rate of packets is less than asecond predetermined number (R_(d)) of packets per minute. As oneexample, if the UE's average DL packet size is small enough such that,according to the UE's processing capabilities, the UE is able to finishreceiving and decoding an average DL packet and transmit an associatedacknowledgment message within the duration of a single slot, the UE mayconfigure the self-contained slot such that the PDSCH and the ACK/NACKoccur in the same slot. Additionally or alternatively, the indicationmay indicate a preference that upcoming control messages (e.g.,transmitted via the PDCCH) scheduling a downlink message are transmittedin the same slot that the downlink message is scheduled (e.g., via thePDSCH). In other words, the indication may indicate a preference that aself-contained slot is constructed wherein the PDCCH scheduling adownlink message and the PDSCH containing the downlink message scheduledin the PDCCH are allocated to a single slot.

Additionally or alternatively, the indication may specify a preferredduration of the slot associated with the PDSCH based on the anticipatedprocessing time required for an average sized DL packet. Thetransmission of an indication to configure a self-contained slot forPDSCH and PDCCH may be performed based on a determination that theprocessing time of the UE to process a control message in the PDCCH, inconjunction with the processing time to process an average sized payloadmessage, is sufficiently short to perform both within the duration ofthe slot. Additionally or alternatively, the duration of the slot may beadjusted to accommodate the processing time of the average sized DLpacket. In some embodiments, as described in further detail below, theindication may be transmitted further based at least in part on atraffic type associated with currently active downlink messaging, and/oron a type of application currently running on the UE, wherein theapplication is anticipated to receive downlink messages.

The indication may communicate to the base station a preferable set ofparameters that are configured via radio resource control (RRC),including one or more of slot format (for example, as specified in 3GPPTS 38.211), K₀, K₁, μ_(DL), and μ_(UL) (for example, as specified in3GPP TS 38.214). For example, as described in greater detail above, thecommunicated parameters may be used by the base station to configure thestart time of PDSCH relative to PDCCH, the duration of PDSCH, and/or thestart time of ACK/NACK messaging relative to PDSCH.

In some embodiments, the indication may notify the base station that theUE has a preference to initiate a self-contained slot where ACK/NACKmessages are sent in the same slot that associated downlink messages arereceived in PDSCH. Additionally or alternatively, the indication mayinclude a set of preferred parameters that reduce the slot duration,where the indication is selected by the UE at least partially based onthe average packet size, by reducing the duration of the PDSCH andACK/NACK. Advantageously, the time duration required for the UE toreceive a downlink message and transmit an ACK/NACK message may bereduced based on current downlink configuration, thus increasing powersavings as the UE may enter a deeper sleep or low power state. In someembodiments, the indication may further specify a duration (i.e., anumber of DRX cycles) to communicate according the configurationspecified by the indication.

At 506, in response to transmitting the indication to the base station,the UE may perform downlink communications with base station accordingto self-contained slot configuration and/or duration. For example, inresponse to the indication from the UE, the base station may configuredownlink communications with the UE according to the indicatedpreference received from the UE. The UE may then perform subsequentdownlink communications according to the self-contained slotconfiguration and/or duration. For example, the UE may receive controlinformation via the PDCCH, may receive downlink payload messaging viathe PDSCH, and/or may transmit acknowledgment messaging within a singleself-contained slot. The downlink communications may be performedaccording to the reduced slot duration specified by the indicationtransmitted to the gNB. The UE may continue to communicate with the basestation according to the self-contained slot configuration and durationfor multiple successive cycles (e.g., DRX cycles) of PDCCH/PDSCHcommunications. In some embodiments, further efficiencies may beobtained if the control information received via the PDCCH furthercomprises a blanking DCI message, as described in further detail below.

In some embodiments, the UE may continue to perform multiple cycles ofsubsequent downlink communications according to the self-contained slotconfiguration and/or duration. At a later time, the UE may determinethat an alternative self-contained slot configuration and/or duration isdesirable, and may send a second indication expressing a preference toreconfigure the downlink communications according to a second set ofparameters. The gNB may then reconfigure downlink communicationsaccording to the second set of parameters in response to receiving thesecond indication, and the UE may perform downlink communicationsaccording to the reconfiguration.

A blanking DCI (bDCI) message may specify a duration associated with astart slot and an end slot during which the UE is not expected tomonitor the downlink control channel (PDCCH). In some embodiments, theblanking DCI and a self-contained slot may be used jointly. If a UEreceives a bDCI message and a self-contained slot configuration, it maycomplete DL grant decoding and ACK/NACK transmission in the same slot,and then enter a deeper sleep mode for the duration specified by thebDCI message. If a self-contained slot is configurated without utilizinga bDCI message, the UE may still monitor the PDCCH after completing anACK/NACK transmission, which may cause the UE to stay in a higher powerstate, expending more energy. Alternatively, if a bDCI message isutilized without configuring a self-contained slot, the UE may remain ina higher power state until the ACK/NACK is transmitted. Accordingly,power savings may be improved by jointly employing both bDCI messagingand self-contained slots.

FIG. 6—Self-Contained Slot and Slot Duration for Uplink (UL)

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for configuringself-contained slots and slot duration by a UE for uplinkcommunications. The methods described in reference to FIG. 6 may beimplemented by a UE 106 or a processor including circuitry comprisedwithin a UE, such as those illustrated in FIG. 3, among otherpossibilities. In various embodiments, some of the elements of thescheme shown may be performed concurrently, in a different order thanshown, or may be omitted. Additional and/or alternative elements mayalso be performed as desired. As shown, the method of FIG. 6 may operateas follows.

At 602, the UE may establish a connection with a base station. In someembodiments, the base station may be a gNB, and the connection may be aradio resource control (RRC) connection using a 5G NR radio accesstechnology. Other types of base stations and/or connections are alsopossible.

At 604, the UE may transmit an indication to the base station specifyinga preference to configure self-contained slots and/or slot duration foruplink communications using the established connection. For example, theindication may specify a preferable set of parameters indicating aparticular configuration of self-contained slots and/or slot duration.In various embodiments, the indication may specify a preference of theUE to transmit uplink packets through the PUSCH in the same slot ascorresponding scheduling control messages are transmitted in the PUCCHor PDCCH (i.e., it may configure a self-contained slot), and/or theindication may specify a preferred duration of the slot used for PUCCH,PDCCH, and/or PUSCH communications. For example, the indication mayspecify a preferred time and/or duration of a slot corresponding to anupcoming uplink message to be transmitted via the PUSCH, and it mayspecify a preference that the slot is the same slot within whichscheduling information is transmitted via the PUCCH or PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the indication may be transmitted to the basestation via the PUSCH, and it may signal to the base station that the UEdesires to configure self-contained slots and/or specify the slotduration for the PUCCH, PDCCH, and/or PUSCH in subsequent DRX cycles. Inother embodiments, the indication may be included in the PUCCH. In theseembodiments, a special design format may be utilized to incorporate theindication into the PUCCH, or the existing PUCCH control messaging maybe overridden with the indication to notify the gNB of the enablement ofself-contained slots and/or the preferred slot duration.

The indication may be transmitted based at least in part on adetermination by the UE that the UE's average UL packet size is lessthan a first predetermined number (N_(u)) of bytes, and/or based on adetermination that the average arrival rate of packets is less than asecond predetermined number (R_(u)) of packets per minute. For example,if the average UL packet size is such that, given the processingcapabilities of the UE, the UE is able to transmit uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH and transmit uplink payload communications viathe PUSCH within a single slot duration, the UE may transmit theindication to configure a single self-contained slot for both the PUCCHand the PUSCH. In some embodiments, the indication may lengthen orshorten the duration of the self-contained slot to accommodate theprocessing time associated with each of the PUCCH and the PUSCH. In someembodiments, and as described in further detail below, the indicationmay be transmitted further based at least in part on a traffic typeassociated with the uplink message to be transmitted via the PUSCH,and/or on a type of application currently running on the UE, which isanticipated to transmit uplink messages.

In some embodiments, the indication may be associated with a set ofparameters that are configured via RRC, including one or more of slotformat (for example, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.211), K₂, μ_(DL), andμ_(UL). In some embodiments, the indication may notify the base stationthat the UE prefers to communicate with a reduced PUSCH duration, and/orthat the UE prefers that the start time of PUSCH transmission is movedcloser to the scheduling request transmitted through PUCCH (e.g., it maybe moved to occur in the same slot as the PUCCH). In other embodiments,the UE may transmit a scheduling request to transmit an uplink messagevia the PUCCH, and the gNB may respond with a scheduling grant for theuplink message via the PDCCH. In these embodiments, the indication mayspecify a preference of the UE to transmit the uplink message in a PUSCHthat is in the same slot as the PDCCH which scheduled the uplinkmessage. In some embodiments, the indication may further specify apreferred duration (i.e., a number of DRX cycles) to communicateaccording the configuration specified by the indication.

At 606, in response to transmitting the indication to the base station,the UE may perform uplink communications with base station according toself-contained slot configuration, and/or according to the configuredslot duration. For example, in response to the indication from the UE,the base station may configure uplink communications with the UEaccording to the indicated preference received from the UE. The UE maythen perform subsequent uplink communications according to theself-contained slot configuration and/or duration. For example, the UEmay transmit control information via the PUCCH and may transmit uplinkpayload messaging via the PUSCH within a single self-contained slot.Alternatively or additionally, the UE may receive a scheduling grant viathe PDCCH and may transmit uplink payload messaging via the PUSCH withina single self-contained slot. The uplink communications may be performedaccording to a reduced slot duration specified by the indicationtransmitted to the gNB.

In some embodiments, the UE may continue to communication with the basestation according to the self-contained slot configuration and/orduration for multiple successive cycles (e.g., DRX cycles) ofcommunications. At a later time, the UE may determine that analternative self-contained slot configuration and/or duration isdesirable, and may send a second indication expressing a preference toreconfigure the uplink communications according to a second set ofparameters. The gNB may then reconfigure uplink communications accordingto the second set of parameters in response to receiving the secondindication, and the UE may perform uplink communications according tothe reconfiguration.

Self-Contained Slots and Slot Duration for DL and UL

In some embodiments, self-contained slots and slot duration may besimultaneously configured by a UE for both uplink and downlinkcommunications. For example, when a UE's average UL and DL packet sizeis less than a first predetermined number (N_(a)) of bytes, and/or whenthe average arrival transmission/reception rate of UL/DL packets is lessthan a second predetermined number (R_(a)) of packets per minute, the UEmay send an indication to gNB to configure self-contained slots and/orslot duration for both UL and DL communications. For example, thetransmitted indications described above in reference to step 504 of FIG.5 and step 604 of FIG. 6 may be combined into a single indication thatspecifies a preference to configure self-contained slots and/or slotduration for both downlink and uplink communications. In theseembodiments, the indication may be associated with a set of parametersthat are configured via RRC, including one or more of slot format,(e.g., as specified by 3GPP TS 38.211), K₀, K₁, K₂, μ_(DL), and μ_(UL)(e.g., as specified in 3GPP TS 38.214). By implementing self-containedslot configuration and slot duration with a single indication, theaverage overall UE active duration upon communicating via PDCCH/PUCCHand PDSCH/PUSCH may be reduced.

UE Selection of Preferable Slot Configuration

In some embodiments, the UE may indicate a preferable slot configuration(e.g., self-contained slots and/or slot duration) based on the traffictypes associated with currently active UL and/or DL communications. Forexample, voice-over LTE (VoLTE), email, background traffic, and iMessagemay all be associated with a particular slot configuration and duration,among other possibilities. The preferable parameter set indicated by theUE may specify the slot length, gap between self-contained slots, andother parameters. Each of the traffic types may have a preferredconfiguration of a self-contained slot and/or slot duration, asvariously discussed above. Table 3 below summarizes an example ofpreference indications and configuration sets corresponding to varioustraffic types, according to one embodiment. Other configurations ofself-contained slots and/or slot duration may be established for othertraffic types, in other embodiments. The UE may determine a traffictype, and hence a configuration to indicate according to the methodsdescribed in reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, based at least in part on atype of application currently running on the UE (e.g., if theapplication is anticipated to transmit and/or receive a particular typeof uplink and/or downlink communications.

TABLE 3 Preference Indications and Configuration Sets for Traffic TypesPreference Traffic type (up to Indication Configuration Set UE'sdefinition) 0 DL configuration Email 1 DL/UL configuration iMessage 2DL/UL configuration VoLTESelf Contained Slot Power Saving with Blanking DCI Messaging

As explained above, if data is grouped into smaller number of DL and/orUL transmissions, inter-grant time may be increased. Increasinginter-grant time may then enable the UE to enter a deeper state of sleepwith lower power consumption, thus decreasing power expenditure. In someembodiments, proactively configuring self-contained slots by the UE tosave power in downlink communications may be combined with blanking DCI(bDCI) messaging to further facilitate UE power saving. For example, ablanking DCI message may be transmitted to a UE indicating aninter-grant time (i.e., a time until next grant, or an upcoming windowof time without scheduled grants) wherein the UE may enter a lower poweror sleep mode, to reduce energy expenditure. In these embodiments, thebDCI message may be included with the scheduling information included inthe PDCCH.

The following numbered paragraphs describe additional embodiments.

In some embodiments, a method is performed by a user equipment device(UE), the method comprising establishing a connection with a basestation, transmitting an indication to the base station indicating apreference for a set of slot configuration parameters, and conductingcommunications with the base station according to the set of slotconfiguration parameters at least in part in response to transmittingthe indication.

In some embodiments, the set of slot configuration parameters correspondto one or more of: a self-contained slot for a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) fordownlink messaging, a self-contained slot for the PDSCH andacknowledgment messages for downlink messaging, a self-contained slotfor the PDCCH and a physical downlink shared channel (PUSCH) for uplinkmessaging, a duration of a slot used for PDSCH downlink messaging, and aduration of a slot used for PUSCH uplink messaging.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106) may be configured toinclude a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherethe memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor isconfigured to read and execute the program instructions from the memorymedium, where the program instructions are executable to implement anyof the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combinationof the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of themethod embodiments described herein, or, any combination of suchsubsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: by a user equipment device (UE), establishing a connection with a base station; transmitting an indication to the base station indicating a preference for a slot configuration for an upcoming communication between the UE and the base station; and communicating with the base station according to the indicated slot configuration at least in part in response to transmitting the indication.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the base station according to the indicated slot configuration comprises transmitting by the UE an uplink message to the base station.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicated slot configuration comprises one or more of: a self-contained slot configuration, wherein the uplink message is to be transmitted by the UE in a same slot that an associated downlink message is scheduled to be received, wherein the uplink message comprises an uplink acknowledgement message; a preferred duration of a slot corresponding to transmission of the uplink message; and a preferred time of the slot corresponding to transmission of the uplink message, wherein the time is specified relative to a control message scheduling the uplink message.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the preferred duration of the slot is determined by the UE based at least in part on an average packet size of downlink messages received from the base station.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the indication further indicates a preference that an upcoming control message scheduling the downlink message is transmitted in the same slot that the downlink message is scheduled.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that an average packet size or an average arrival rate of downlink messages received from the base station is below a predetermined threshold; and wherein transmitting the indication to the base station is performed at least in part in response to determining that the average packet size or the average arrival rate of downlink messages received from the base station is below the predetermined threshold.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication specifies one or more of: a slot format; a value of a K0 parameter; a value of a K1 parameter; a value of a μ_(DL) parameter; and a value of a μ_(UL) parameter.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a traffic type associated with the upcoming communication between the UE and the base station, wherein the indication is transmitted based at least in part on the traffic type associated with the upcoming communication between the UE and the base station.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the traffic type comprises one of: email; internet protocol (IP) text messaging; voice-over long term evolution (VoLTE) communications; and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC).
 10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising: receiving a blanking downlink control information (bDCI) indication from the base station to indicating that the UE is not expected to monitor for control messages for a first period of time.
 11. An apparatus, comprising: a processor including circuitry configured to cause a user equipment device (UE) to: establish a connection with a base station; transmit an indication to the base station specifying a preferred time and duration of a slot corresponding to an upcoming uplink message, wherein the time is specified relative to a control message scheduling the upcoming message; and transmit the uplink message during the slot at least in part in response to transmitting the indication.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to: determine that an average packet size of uplink messages transmitted to the base station is below a predetermined threshold; and wherein the processing element is configured to cause the UE to transmit the indication to the base station at least in part in response to determining that the average packet size of uplink messages transmitted to the base station is below the predetermined threshold.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to: determine that an average transmission rate of uplink messages transmitted to the base station is below a predetermined threshold; and wherein the processing element is configured to cause the UE to transmit the indication to the base station at least in part in response to determining that the average transmission rate of uplink messages transmitted to the base station is below the predetermined threshold.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the indication specifies one or more of: a slot format; a value of a K2 parameter; a value of a μ_(DL) parameter; and a value of a μ_(UL) parameter.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the preferred duration of the slot is determined by the processing element based at least in part on an average packet size of uplink messages received from the base station.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the indication further indicates a preference that an upcoming control message scheduling the uplink message is transmitted in the same slot that the uplink message is scheduled.
 17. A user equipment device (UE), comprising: an antenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a processor including circuitry and coupled to the radio; wherein the UE is configured to: establish a connection with a base station; transmit an indication to the base station indicating a preference that an upcoming acknowledgment message is transmitted by the UE in a first slot, wherein a downlink message corresponding to the acknowledgment message is scheduled to be received in the first slot; and transmit the acknowledgment message in the first slot at least in part in response to transmitting the indication.
 18. The UE of claim 17, wherein the UE and the base station operate according to a 5G New Radio (NR) radio access technology.
 19. The UE of claim 17, wherein the UE is further configured to: determine that an average packet size of downlink messages received from the base station is below a predetermined threshold; and wherein the UE is configured to transmit the indication to the base station at least in part in response to determining that the average packet size of downlink messages received from the base station is below the predetermined threshold.
 20. The UE of claim 17, wherein the indication further indicates a preferred duration of the slot, and wherein the duration of the slot is determined by the UE based at least in part on an average packet size of downlink messages received from the base station. 